Changes to 12VAC35-105-20. Definitions:

"Group home” or community residential service" means a congregate service providing 24- hour supervision in a community-based home having eight or fewer residents that provides 24- hour supervision by persons in direct care positions who do not live in the home. 

Comment: This proposed change in the redefinition of group home will limit the options for Virginians with developmental disabilities and their families. By restricting licensing to only those facilities that require seperate living arrangements for those giving vs. recieving care, the new definition mandates an unnecessarily isolating environment, and restricts the work of existing organizations that have successfully provided direct care with live-in assistants. Licensing should empower oversight that ensures effective outcomes, not limit the choices for successfully implemented innovations that better create integrated communities.

The "who do not live in the home" provision should be removed from the final regulation.